Thursday, July 25, 2019

Using Drugs to Enhance Performance is Cheating

          
          Swimming is not really known for having bad boys or drama outside of the pool. Speaking as someone who views sports and consumes most information from living in the United States, I don’t hear much from the sport. Michael Phelps and the Summer Olympic games are the only reason, for the most part, that my curiosity is peaked about what is going on in swimming. Yet, the reason I dedicated a brief space and time for swimming has nothing to do with either.

            Sun Yang, a swimmer from China, won gold in the 400m freestyle event in the championships in South Korea. Sun was caught using a performance enhancement drug (PED). He tested positive for a banned stimulant, trimetazidine, in 2014. Mack Horton, an Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medalist from Rio, was not happy with the result and did not stand on the podium along side his competitor. Horton took silver in the race but was clearly upset that he lost to someone who he has called a cheat in the past.

            The drama further escalated as some swimmers sided with Horton’s action on not shaking hands or posing pictures with Sun Yang. Sun was not happy and stated that it was unfortunate.

            This is some high-level drama considering I don’t necessarily follow swimming and tend to be associated with the masses who only care about the sport every four years. The reason this story piqued my interest was because of the view on drugs within the sport by athletes. I am in the camp where I think that athletes should be allowed to use PEDs, but in a regulated and safe manner. I am aware that my view is not widely accepted as the ethical pathway, but I do have reasons at the structural level of sport that shape my view. However, that debate shall be revisited at another time.

            The significant aspect of this event outside of the pool shares the view on how swimmers view their competitors who used PEDs. They are cheaters. They broke the rules and therefore are cheaters, simple. I do not disagree with Mack Horton’s camp and think he is right to complain. The reason I bring this up because it is fascinating to see who the athletes view PED users. Granted their reaction is not a real surprise as I doubt anyone enjoys losing a competition to someone who did not contest fairly, but that the protest from Horton is a moment in sport history that should be remembered for the larger debate. 

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Quick Notes on 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games


In exactly one year from today the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympic games will commence. There will be a few events that will start before the opening ceremony on July 24, 2020. The Olympic medals that will be awarded in 2020 were revealed today at the capitol of Japan. The medals are unique in how the precious medals were obtained. There will be a decent amount of recycled material used in the medals and the gold, silver, and bronze obtained from public donations from mobile phones were utilized. Not to be confused, the public donation of recycled mobile phones does not account for all of the precious medals used. But it is a sign on how Japan wants to design the Olympic games to the world.

The international sporting event is a time when the host city and most of the time the nation can demonstrate to the world who they are and what they represent. That is no secret, but it works to a certain extent. Tokyo is planning on having robots in the image of the Tokyo 2020 mascot at events greeting people. This creative sport political image shaping is a reason behind host cities and nations seek the opportunity to host the Olympic games. The Olympic games are awarded to a host city, but the nation also provides a lot of input and influence over the campaign.

This is an example of sports being about nationalism and political. At its core value the Olympic games are about competition and human pursuit of excellence, but the human factor is a reason why the topics of nationalism and politics are inescapable. The Olympics will focus on the winners that stand on the podium, but one should keep in mind that the winner’s nations national anthem will be played as they step up to receive their medals. This is the reason why there is an anti-Olympic movement. Politics are decisive and perspective based. Nationalism is not necessarily a negative ingredient as it does make sporting events much more fun especially if one knows the history of the nations and can conjure up historical events to create a mental rivalry. The more basic one is that of supporting one’s nation and excited at the sight of winning and be associated with that nation.

However, the reason politics cannot be ignored and tends to be the more divisive measure is due to a few reasons. The main reason is money. The Olympics are a fun and exciting sporting event that momentarily unites people from all over the world in one place to share common values and interest. Yet, hosting the games is a very expensive burden that tends to fall onto the locals. Whatever the billions of dollars that one will read or watch on television during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, beware that 70% of cost will be covered or was paid for by the taxpayer. Which is how this great sporting event gets political and unavoidable. When money is being spent that belongs to the taxpayer two essential questions should be prompted. Do the games bring economic growth to the host city? What happens after the games are over? To keep it brief, no and the city residents are left with a large portion of the bill.

The Olympics are fun and entertaining to watch. I will be watching the games and keeping track on all the athletic events as possible. One should beware that there will be protesting and instead of moaning and complaining that sports and politics do not mix or that this is not the right place or time understand that sports as never stood alone in a vacuum from the rest of society and that is a reason why sports are fundamental to human society.